Posted on 16/12/2025 by Charlotte Frank
Legal support roles in Hong Kong remain in steady demand in 2025, with modest salary growth, rising skill expectations, and strong competition for experienced, bilingual candidates. Employers are consolidating teams rather than aggressively expanding headcount, but are still hiring selectively for high‑value support staff who can handle more complex, tech‑enabled work.
Overall 2025 market picture
Law firms and in‑house teams are not in a hiring boom, but they are maintaining or slightly growing headcount for high‑performing legal support staff. Many organisations have tightened budgets, so they focus on quality hires, higher productivity, and broader job scopes rather than adding many junior roles.
The 2025 landscape reflects cautious recovery amid economic growth projected at 3.2% annually through 2028, with 54% of firms maintaining headcount for replacements and 34% planning expansions. Over 16 law firms exited the Greater Bay Area in 2024, flooding the market with talent and intensifying competition, particularly for entry-level roles.
Demand spikes in fintech compliance, ESG, and regulatory areas, where digital proficiency (e.g., AI-assisted research, e-discovery) is non-negotiable, 62% of employers cite talent shortages here. Unemployment in admin-legal roles remains low at under 4%, but 47% of professionals are actively job-hunting for stability, with modest salary expectations (74% anticipate raises). Traditional legal secretary roles are phasing out due to AI automation, while hybrid positions in compliance and governance grow.
Support roles increasingly require stronger technical, language, and practice‑specific skills, and employers are more selective in screening candidates. There is also rising demand for support staff with exposure to regulatory, compliance, and fintech/crypto‑related work as these practices expand.
Salary levels and trends
Available 2024–2025 guides indicate that salaries for support staff are broadly flat to moderately up, with firms using bonuses and non‑cash benefits to stay competitive rather than large base‑pay jumps. Talent shortages in some specialist areas (compliance, bilingual and cross‑border roles) mean strong candidates can still negotiate higher packages or faster progression.
Legal secretary: Surveys show average total annual compensation in the HKD 330k–500k range, with higher earnings for experienced secretaries in international firms. Senior or team‑support secretaries can reach significantly higher bands depending on firm size, language skills and practice area.
Paralegal: A leading salary guide puts paralegals around HKD 45,000 per month on average, with typical ranges roughly from the mid‑30,000s to mid‑40,000s and more for experienced or specialised profiles. Paralegals with foreign qualifications (PRC, US, UK) or strong cross‑border expertise remain especially valued.
Company/office management & admin: Company secretarial and senior office management roles sit higher, with average monthly packages around HKD 70,000 and upper bands reaching six‑figure monthly pay for senior posts. General administrative assistants sit below legal secretaries, but those embedded in legal or compliance teams can command a premium over standard office admin roles.
Skills and profile trends
The content of legal support roles is becoming more strategic and demanding, with firms expecting staff to support bigger teams, handle more complex documentation, and use legal tech tools efficiently. Multilingual capability (especially English, Cantonese, and often Mandarin) and familiarity with cross‑border work are increasingly treated as baseline requirements in many firms.
Paralegals and legal secretaries with specialised practice knowledge (e.g., corporate, funds, disputes, regulatory, crypto/fintech) are strongly preferred as firms push work down from fee‑earners to support staff to control costs. Experience with compliance workflows (KYC, AML, sanctions, regulatory filings) is particularly valued as regulators and institutions tighten expectations.
Demand dynamics and hiring behaviour
Recruiters note that overall legal hiring slowed over the past 12–18 months, but demand remains resilient for regulatory, compliance and high‑value legal roles, which indirectly sustains demand for capable support staff in those teams. Many law firms have rolled back flexible working for support staff post‑COVID and expect on‑site presence, which can influence candidate preferences and turnover.
At the same time, there is persistent talent shortage pressure in Hong Kong, with a majority of employers reporting difficulties filling skilled roles. To attract and retain support staff, firms increasingly rely on clearer performance‑linked pay structures, benchmarking against the market, and offering training, career paths and occasional flexible arrangements rather than simply raising base salaries.
How Executive Assistants are pivoting their careers
As a recruiter working exclusively with senior Executive Assistants, Chiefs of Staff and operations leaders across Greater China and Asia-Pacific, I keep a close eye on how the Hong Kong market is evolving.
The big-picture trend is straightforward: purely administrative EA positions are slowly contracting, while hybrid strategic roles are quietly expanding. The EAs who move fastest are those who can demonstrate business impact, digital fluency, and cross-functional orchestration.
Here are the four pivots I see most often right now, with realistic 2025 monthly salary ranges (total cash unless stated):
Executive Assistant → Chief of Staff: The clearest next step for EAs supporting founders, CEOs or family offices.
2025 range: HK$65,000 – HK$100,000+ (many packages include equity or long-term incentives)
Executive Assistant → Head of Operations / Business Operations Lead: Ideal for EAs already running budgeting, vendors, compliance and project delivery.
2025 range: HK$70,000 – HK$110,000
Executive Assistant → Fractional Chief of Staff / Strategic Advisor: Top EAs now support 3–5 executives on a retained or project basis.
Typical earnings: HK$80,000 – HK$180,000 monthly
Executive Assistant → People Operations / Office of the CEO / Special Projects: A natural move for EAs handling onboarding, culture initiatives and sensitive people matters.
2025 range: HK$55,000 – HK$85,000
Practical steps to start your pivot right now:
Reframe 2–3 achievements in business-impact language,
From: “Managed CEO calendar and travel”
To: “Designed executive operating rhythm for HK$800M revenue group; cut meeting overhead by 40% and reclaimed 15+ hours/week of strategic time”
Build a one-page “Strategic Impact Brief” (not a traditional CV). Highlight revenue/headcount supported, risks mitigated, projects shipped. Takes under two hours once you have the structure.
Run the quiet three-conversation sequence
One informal chat with a founder or investor you already know
One short outreach to a CEO who recently raised capital (“Happy to share how other founders installed scalable operating systems”)
Offer a small paid pilot (10–20 hours) to prove value before any title discussion
The companies that truly value a world-class EA are creating these strategic seats and paying accordingly. The window is open.
P.S. Know an EA who’s quietly outgrown the role? Forward this to them. These windows of arbitrage close faster than people expect.
Anyone can get in touch with me at wy@charlottefrank.com or on LinkedIn at Wilfred Yu.